More
Papa Nambu Photos
Before I got my own Papa Nambu, an
American friend allowed me to post pictures of his two. Here they are.
This first one is a TGE Papa, made
by the Tokyo Gas and Electric Company. Probably the most obvious features that
distinguish the Papa from the much more common Type 14 are the checkered grips,
the tangent sight and the grip safety (the little thing on the front of the
grip strap just below the trigger guard). Look a little closer in the other
pictures below and you will also see that the frame has a different
cross-section.
(Photo courtesy of the Stancil collection)
Here is a shot of the left side. The
Papa has one recoil spring, mounted in a chamber on the left side of the frame,
which is that rounded horizontal protrusion you see along the top of the frame.
As a result, the cocking knob is also shaped with a protrusion on the left.
That little “button” on the frame just above and between the middle character
and the three on the grips is not a safety, as some people think, but rather
the outside of the sear pin. The arrow is to indicate the way to align it; it
does not slide in that direction. Misunderstanding of this point has led some
people to damage the pin. As for the painted markings on the grips, the middle
character seems to be ku, meaning
“air”. The one on the far right seems to be a “3”. I can’t make out the character
on the left from the photo. Many Papas have such markings indicating the units
to which they were issued or the racks in which they were to be stored. In many
cases, particularly on ships, handguns were kept in central stores and issued
as needed, so the guns often have markings to indicate where they belong.
(Photo courtesy of the
Stancil collection)
This close-up shows the markings on the
left side very well. On the rear of the frame back by the cocking knob are two
characters. They are read right to left and say riku-shiki, or “Army Type”. This marking was probably added in the
hopes that it would be officially adopted by the Army, though it never was. The
Army approved it for private purchase by officers and the Navy did adopt it.
(Photo courtesy of the
Stancil collection)
This close-up of the right side
markings shows the serial number and above it, three characters that are read
from right to left. They say Nambu-shiki,
or Nambu Type, Nambu, of course, being the gun’s designer.
(Photo courtesy of the
Stancil collection)
This one shows the manufacturer’s
marking on top of the frame just in front of the chamber. It is TGE in a
circle; actually the letters are in the order GTE, but the T is to be read
first because it’s bigger. This is the marking of Tokyo Gas and Electric. Of
course, here it is shown rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the normal
top-bottom orientation.
(Photo courtesy of the
Stancil collection)
This Papa is a Tokyo Arsenal
product. It was missing a number of parts when the current owner acquired it,
but Papas are scarce enough that they are worth buying in any condition. The
grips are reproductions that turned out to be a bit short, so the cord, which
came back from
(Photo courtesy of the
Stancil collection)
Here is the left side.
(Photo courtesy of the
Stancil collection)
Here is the Tokyo Arsenal marking,
which is supposed to be a stack of four cannon balls viewed from the top. The
shot is taken from above. The marking is just ahead of the chamber, which is to
the right of the chamber in this photo. Further to the right is the barrel and
to the top is the protrusion that houses the recoil spring. This is the same
marking as is shown on my Baby. It also appears on many other Japanese guns and
bayonets, and was also used by Kokura arsenal when some small arms production
was moved there.
(Photo courtesy of the
Stancil collection)
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Last updated: October 23, 2004. All contents are copyright Teri unless otherwise specified and may not
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